Global Cooperation and Promotion of Spirit of the Game in Ultimate is Spreading

17 January 2013

Ultimate is growing quickly all around the world, and fair play, which is called Spirit of the Game within Ultimate circles, is an integral part of the sport. In fact, Spirit of the Game (SOTG) is highlighted in the application that the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) sent to the IOCrequesting to become a recognized international sports federation. Spirit of the Game committees with ties to the WFDF SOTG committee have been popping up all across the globe, many of them in the last couple of years. The SOTG Subcommittee provides an update.

FPA Freestyle World Championships 2012 - Results of the event in Riccione (Italy) held on 2-5 August

18 August 2012

The Freestyle Player Association (FPA) World Championships 2012 were held from August 2 to 5 in Riccione (Italy). A total number of 67 players from 10 countries (USA, ITA, SWE, GER, SUI, HUN, CZE, GBR, JPN, COL) competed in event. Spectators were given four days of flying disc choreographed routines, amazing tricks and breathtaking moves between 2 - 5 August on the beach of Riccione (near Rimini) in Italy and, as always, the Adriatic Sea coastline continues to be an ideal setting for the premier freestyle disc event (and many Paganello tournaments).

Teams from the USA won the gold medal in the Women`s Pairs, Mixed Pairs and Open Co-Op competition whilst host country Italy took the gold in the coveted Open Pairs event. Lori Daniels and Emma Kahle (both USA) were the winners of the Women`s Pairs Final, whilst Clay Collera and Andrea Dini (both Italy) claimed the title in the Open Pairs event. Charlene Powell and Mike Galloupe (both USA) won the Mixed Pairs Final and Paul Kenny, Daniel O`Neill and James Wiseman (all USA) are the new World Champions in the Open Co-Op Final.

The World Flying Disc Federation today released 2012 World Ultimate and Guts Championships : Spirit of the game results (WUGC) held July 7-15 in Sakai, Japan. The following teams were honored for receiving the top scores in their respective divisions: Philippines Open, Canada Women, South Africa Mixed, New Zealand Open Masters, and Germany Women Masters.

As cited in the first section of the WFDF Rules of Ultimate, all players are responsible for administering and adhering to the rules -- also known as Spirit of the Game (SOTG) -- which places responsibility for fair play on every player in this non-contact sport played with a flying disc. As such, Spirit Scores are considered an integral part of the overall competitive success of participating teams.

PDGA 2012 Disc Golf World Championships - results

23 July 2012

The PDGA 2012 Disc Golf World Championships came to a close on Saturday, July 21, hosted in Charlotte, NC, USA. Over one thousand players from 13 countries and 47 states on 14 courses participated. In the Men’s Open division, Paul “McBeast” McBeth captured his first world title to become the 2012 Disc Golf World Champion, five throws ahead of second place finisher Ricky Wysocki.

Sarah Hokom became Women’s World Champion, while Valarie Jenkins made an impressive comeback late in the week to take second place. The Amateur World Championship titles went to Spencer Wilken in the Advanced division, with Michelle Frazer taking the Women’s Advanced division.

WFDF web server unavailable

22 July 2012

Dear Flying Disc sports friend,

We have been informed by our internet service provider that with regard to the start of operations at the new energy-efficient data center park some services will be temporarily unavailable on our website:

WFDF announces candidates for the election at WUGC of the Athletes’ Commission

25 June 2012

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is pleased to announce the candidates for the election of the WFDF Athletes’ Commission. The elections will be held during the World Ultimate and Guts Championships (WUGC) in Sakai, Japan in July 2012. Seven candidates for the three positions have been nominated by their respective Member associations, with three members to be elected by the players at WUGC: Matt Doyle (Canada), Adam Goff (USA), Anna Haynes (Australia), Bernhard Otto (Germany), Piero Pisano (Italy), Ryan Purcell (South Africa), and Valeska Schacht (Germany).

WFDF Call for Sanctioned Ultimate Event Bids - PAUCC and AOUCC 2013

WFDF’s Ultimate Committee and Board of Directors are seeking bids from potential host organizers for several upcoming sanctioned events.

WFDF Asian-Oceanic Ultimate Club Championship 2013 (AOUCC)

WFDF PanAmerican Ultimate Club Championship 2013 (PAUCC)

The last Continental events had been held in in 2011 in Chinese Taipei (AOUC) and Colombia (PAUC). The AOUCC and PAUCC are held on a quadrennial basis alternating with the AOUC and PAUC.

The deadline for submitting completed bids for AOUCC and PAUCC is July 10, 2012, and it is anticipated that bids will be awarded no later than August 31, 2012. The interested bidders will be allowed to present their bid application to the WFDF 2012 Congress in Sakai, Japan, on 14-15 July 2012.

Latest WFDF Communiques

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has received today the official notification by Paris 2024 that Flying Disc was not selected as an additional sport for the 2024 edition of the Olympic Games.

Paris 2024 Sport Director Jean-Philippe Gatien wrote to WFDF President Rauch that “after careful consideration, the Paris 2024 Executive team has reached a final decision” and that Flying Disc “has not been selected to be put forward to the IOC to become a part of the Olympic Games 2024 sports programme.”

The sports of Surfing, Skateboarding, Sport Climbing, and Breaking were selected by Paris 2024 as additional sports to be put forward to the IOC for approval, as was announced at their Press Conference in Paris this morning.

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF), the international sports federation recognized by the IOC that is responsible for world governance of flying disc (frisbee) sports, is seeking one or two individuals to serve as an Event Coordinator (50%) and Administrative Coordinator (50%) to support the growth of our expanding organization. The positions contemplate a part-time (50%) consultancy opportunity for each position, although an individual with the right qualifications could be considered for both areas in a full-time consultancy position. The positions are virtual and so the applicant would need to demonstrate access to the office equipment required to perform the job.

The World Flying Disc Federation Board (WFDF) Executive Committee, Board members, Committee and Commission Chairs, Continental Representatives and staff come together for two and a half days of strategic discussions that will set the tone for Flying Disc for years to come.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring together a team of twenty WFDF board and key staffers for intense and productive discussions in New York City at our board meeting and strategic planning session this weekend,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “The WFDF board and staff are located across 12 different countries across global time zones and getting together primarily occurs during our monthly board meetings via a conference call. The 30 hours of meeting time this weekend significantly increases the productivity of discussions, reduces time in making decisions, and improves the work input, while building on the strength and comradeship of the WFDF key heads, making this meeting very important. ”

WFDF’s mission statement “to support and promote the global advancement of disc sports and spirit of the game” will be top of mind in all discussions as the group takes direct input and feedback from key representatives from multiple continents representing all the different Flying Disc Sports: Ultimate, Beach Ultimate, Disc Golf, Freestyle, Guts and Individual Overall Sports.

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF), in cooperation with the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA), is releasing the second edition of the world rankings for disc golf by country. USA remain the top ranked team in the world, followed by Canada, Finland, New Zealand and Estonia.The criteria for ranking countries are a combination of performance at WFDF World Team Disc Golf Championships and the PDGA ratings for top male and female players.

“The second edition of the WFDF World Disc Golf Rankings marks another significant step forward for WFDF members and countries affiliated with PDGA,” said Charlie Mead, the WFDF Disc Golf Committee chair.“As the criteria for ranking becomes known to the wider disc golf-playing world, National Associations are focusing their attention on how to move up the list. The inclusion of more women and juniors in the calculations for some countries has made a positive difference to their position.”

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has announced the results of its 2018 elections. This comes after the international federation recognized by the IOC for Flying Disc sports had executed a major revamp of its governance structure and Board composition that had been unanimously approved by the WFDF membership in the autumn of 2018. Among other positions, the membership re-elected Robert “Nob“ Rauch as President for an additional two-year term.

“WFDF is excited about the revisions to our governance structure with the expansion of the Board of Directors, bringing in the heads of our Continental associations and formalizing several other ex-officio positions. We are also extremely pleased to have increased the number of women on the Board to seven out of the eighteen members as we continue to pursue gender equality in our goverenance structure as well as in our competitive events,”commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is pleased to announce that it has launched its new wfdf.sport domain name and related portfolio under the “.sport” domain name program initiated and managed by the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) to which WFDF belongs as a member.

“In today´s internet world of so many domain names and extensions, WFDF´s use of the wfdf.sport domain will provide much greater visibility and searchability for the Flying Disc community names. Using the strict criteria applied by GAISF enhances the legitimacy and credibility of Flying Disc‘s public communications and makes us a member of the exclusive ‘.sport‘ community,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.

The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is pleased to announce that its Congress has approved the Flying Disc Associations of Kazakhstan, Malta, Sri Lanka, and U.S. Virgin Islands as its newest Member associations, increasing WFDF’s membership to 84 national member associations.

“WFDF is proud to welcome the four new member associations to the WFDF flying disc family concluding the latest admission process overseen by our Executive Director Volker Bernardi,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has approved VC Ultimate as the WFDF Official Apparel Supplier and Partner for 2019-2022. VC Ultimate, based in Toronto, Canada, receives the exclusive opportunity to develop and sell selected official event merchandise and apparel for the WFDF Ultimate Championship events for the four-year term.In return, this partnership will provide benefits to the players and teams, event organizers and to WFDF. VC Ultimate will also continue to work with WFDF to develop and market WFDF-branded gear to be sold through their Canadian, American and European online stores.

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has approved Discraft as the WFDF Official Disc Supplier and Partner for 2019-2022. Discraft Inc., based in Michigan, USA, will receive the exclusive rights to produce “Official WFDF Ultimate Discs” for sale through merchandise channels and will be the supplier of the “Official Game Discs” during all WFDF Ultimate Championship events during this four-year period. It will also include sponsorship of the WFDF World Team Disc Golf and Freestyle Championships. In return, this partnership will provide benefits to both WFDF and its sanctioned event organizers. For events, Discraft will provide discounted rates on the purchase of discs for event sales and a number of official game discs. It will also provide discs and sponsorship funding to support WFDF’s development programs and general activities.

WFDF is pleased to announce that the WFDF 2020 World Masters Ultimate Championships (WMUC 2020) will be staged in Gold Coast, Australia from Saturday 5th September to Saturday 12th September 2020 at the Runaway Bay Sport Precinct. The tournament organizing committee (TOC) is WFDF member national federation the Australian Flying Disc Association (AFDA), which had hosted the WFDF 2018 World Under-24 Ultimate Championships and the WFDF 2006 World Ultimate Club Championships with great success.

“We are thrilled to receive a great bid from an experienced Tournament Organizer to host the inaugural stand-alone National Team event for masters-aged athletes following the great participation we had at the Masters Club championships held this past summer in Canada,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “It is great to showcase these masters’ athletes, and provide an opportunity for them to continue to complete at the highest level over the course of their lives. Many thanks to our tournament organizing committee, AFDA, the City of Gold Coast and Tourism Events Queensland who are working together to make WMUC 2020 a remarkable event.”